Breathe
by RhiDaBatch3
Summary: No matter what, Ryou is there for his friends. Even when they wrong him. Tendershipping/Thiefshipping maybe Angstshipping depending how how you want it. BoyxBoy Don't like, don't read. Songfic


**Breathe**  
_This is a story based on the song '_Breathe _(_2am_)' by _Anna Nalick_. For full effect, listen to it while you read. Also, this is Hikari Marik. I dislike calling him 'Malik'. So just remember. This story is __**NOT**__ about Yami Marik, but Marik Ishtar._

**…**

The clock beside Ryou's bed flashed 2:01am as he sat alone in his dark bedroom trying to make himself tired. He hadn't ever been much of a heavy sleeper and it was rather hard for him to fall asleep. So he sat at his desk with the small lamp on working on next week's math assignment. Outside a cool air breezed in through the window, saying that the end of summer was near. Suddenly a ringing brought him out of text book and the milk chocolate eyes looked over at the telephone.

_2am and he calls me cuz I'm still awake…_

Ryou picked up the receiver and spoke, curious as to whom, other than himself, would still be up at this hour. "Ryou, can you help me unravel my latest mistake?" Marik's voice spoke from the other end, shaky and terrified. "I don't love him… Winter just wasn't my season…" Ryou's eyes winded a little as his best friend admitted that he had once again 'jumped the gun' so to say. It wasn't all that surprising. Marik always did. Then it was up to Ryou to help put the pieces back together. Always.

"Alright Marik. Just breathe. I'll be there soon."

_Yeah we walk through the doors, so accusing their eyes…_

Ryou walked into the office, his left arm resting reassuringly on Marik's shoulder. The Egyptian was starring at his feet, too afraid to face anyone. This mistake was bad and he knew it. He shouldn't have done what he had. No matter how he 'thought' he felt about the Yami. It was wrong he almost lost his closest friend for it. When he was lightly pushed down into a seat, he glanced around the room and flinched at all the pairs of eyes glaring at him. When Ryou saw, a frown formed.

_Like they have any right at all to criticize…_

"Hypocrites you're all here for the very same reason." Ryou moved his arm around Marik's shoulder and squeezed a little, trying to make him feel better. Some of the others in the room turned away ashamed upon hearing what he pointed out, the others scowled a little more. After a while it was Marik's turn so Ryou stood and helped him to his feet, walking into the room labeled 'divorce'.

_You can't jump the track; we're like cars on a cable…_

Marik's hand shook more as he signed his name on the last line, the 'I' in Ishtar looking more like a 1. He then quickly dropped the pen like it was a thorny rose and curled over as tears flowed down his cheeks. Beside him Ryou quickly kneeled down and placed his hands on Marik's. He hated seeing his friend upset. Marik should be smiling and bouncing about. Or annoying someone with that giddy smile he always had. The one Ryou adored. "Ryou I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have done this to you! I want to take it all back!"

Ryou flinched a little at the memory but shook his head, a small sympathetic yet true smile appearing on his lips.

_So cradle your head in your hands… _

"Life's like an hour glass glued to the table. Nobody can find the rewind button. Just breathe." Marik turned his violent gaze towards his best friend, more tears falling from his eyes. With a little whimper and threw himself at Ryou and sobbed into his best friends shoulder.

_Oh breathe… Just breathe… Oh breathe… Just breathe._

**…**

_May he turned 21 on the base of Fort Bliss. "Just a day" he said down to the flask in his fist…_

Bakura sat hunched over on the park bench, a worn out jacket, ripped blue jeans, old sneakers and a tattered scarf the only things protecting him from the autumn wind. His slivery hair, once soft, was now tangled and a mess. The spikes were entangled together and the two points at top even seemed to droop as the man tried to drown away the world. He tipped the bottle to his lips once more, swallowing the vodka in a gulp.

"Yami?" Bakura turned his dull brown eyes to his left, the rims brimming with redness. Ryou stood starring at him with concern written across his delicate features. "Bakura are you alright?" He quickly walked over to the Yami prepared to once again help out somebody who needed him. Bakura's lips turned down into a frown and he closed his eyes, leaning his head back. He couldn't face the light…

_Here in town you can tell he's been down for a while. But my god it's so beautiful when the boy smiles…_

Ryou grew more concerned about the man and quickly shrugged off his own jacket to put around the other. Bakura's eyes opened and he looked at Ryou but his mind registered that the light would come across the flask soon. So with great effort he tried to move but Ryou beat him to it. The albino's slender fingers clasped around his own the gripped the sliver canister. The brown orbs winded more and he held the bottle up as Bakura's hand dropped. "Bakura… when was the last time you remember not drinking?"

Bakura winced a little, trying to sit up. "Ain't been sober since maybe October… of last year." This earned him a shocked little gasp and he was then being pulled to his feet, his arm draped across Ryou's slender shoulders. A warm arm wrapped itself around the Yami's waist as Ryou supported most of his former Yami's weight and helped him back to his apartment.

_You can't jump the track; we're like cars on a cable…_

The small one bedroom apartment had not changed much at all in the 2 years Bakura had been gone. A few new pots and pans now hung from above the stove but the design of the furniture had not. Bakura held the blanket around himself and looked up as Ryou set a bowl of soup in front of him. He looked up at the soup, then at the light who had made it. As there almost always was, a smile was across the boy's face, one that made Bakura, the all mighty king of thieves, feel guilty. "Ryou I-… I'm sorry… If I could take it all back…"

Ryou simply shook his head, his eyes falling to the floor but the smile remaining. "Life's like an hour glass glued to the table. Nobody can find the rewind button. Just breathe." Bakura looked at him, a little taken aback. He didn't deserve to be treated like this. Not after what he had done to the boy…

_Want to hold him. Maybe I'll just sing about it…_

_Oh breathe… Just breathe… Oh breathe… Just breathe._

…

_2am and I'm still awake…_

Ryou sat in his room, the bed sheets flung off the bed. He was holding onto his knees and sobbing from the nightmare he awoke from. This is why he couldn't, didn't sleep. Each time he did these horrible images haunted his mind. They had ever since he was a boy. He grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen from the bedside table and did the only thing that ever helped ease the pain.

_If I get it all down on paper it's no longer inside of me, threatening the life it belongs too…_

The monster in his mind; the one that gave him horrible dreams of losing all he held dear, being left alone, hurting people… He refused to let it win.

_And I feel like I'm naked in front of a crowd 'cuz these words are my diary screaming out loud…_

"There's a light at each end of this tunnel. You shout because you're just as far in as you'll ever be out." Ryou's head snapped up and over to his door where Bakura stood, eyes starring right at the Hikari's. When the boy looked away, the Thief King walked over and cupped his chin, lightly forcing the light to meet his eyes. "And these mistakes you've made you'll just make them again," Bakura's hand and eyes looked towards the notebook full of Ryou's handwriting, each one telling of what 'bad' thing he had done to cause such dreams. "but only if you try turning around." This got Ryou's attention and he locked eyes with the Yami once more, tears falling from his cheeks and onto his knees.

"You can't jump the track. We're like cars on a cable. Life's like a hourglass glued to the table. No one can find the rewind button boy."The Yami kissed Ryou's forehead lightly, trying to help ease the burden the younger boy felt the need to carry. "Say something if you understand…"

Ryou couldn't hold it back anymore. He clung to Bakura's t-shirt and let out everything he'd kept bottled up. "I-I'm... s-sorry!" He choked, finding it difficult to talk through the sobs.

Bakura shook his head and stroked Ryou's hair, holding him. "Just breathe. Oh breathe. Just breathe… Ryou just breathe…" Ryou finally lifted his head up enough and looked his Yami in the eye, smiling. Bakura smiled back he placed a kiss on the lights lips.

_Just breathe._

_..._

_**Note:**_ If it's not clear enough let me explain some things. When Marik refers to 'Winter', he is referring to Yami Bakura. The 'latest mistake' he talks about is that he thought he loved Bakura and married him, even though Bakura was with Ryou. So a year later Bakura is a drunken mess after he hurt Ryou then Marik left him. So when Ryou finds him and shows he still cares for the thief, Ryou takes him back.  
And THAT my dears is this story in a nutshell~!

I do not own nor do I claim to own "Breathe (2am)". It belongs to Anna Nalick. Not me.


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